The Use of Corrosion Inhibitors in Oil and Gas Production (EFC 39) PDF

This document has been prepared by members of Working Party 13 of the European Federation of Corrosion (EFC). It covers many aspects of corrosion inhibition, from fundamental concepts to selection criteria, deployment issues, monitoring/ data acquisition and management of inhibition programmes.

The guidelines have drawn on documentation normally provided by BP and Shell for their contractors and suppliers [1-5] plus significant contributions from experienced corrosion personnel in specialist organisations, inhibitor suppliers, and operating companies.

The use of corrosion inhibition to mitigate the effects of corrosion in oilfield equipment is well established in manyproduction fields. However, the use of C-Mn steel plus inhibition results in greater risks to projects concerned with more corrosive environments and/or extreme operational conditions, such as high CO2 and H2S concentrations or slug flow regimes. The development of improved inhibitor packages to meet these challenges requires a rational and formal quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) approach to inhibitor selection and deployment.

Further obligations are placed on the industry by legislation that emphasises increasing concerns with regard to risks to safety, health and the environment. There are requirements not only to have management systems that address risks posed by corrosion to facilities but also to have in place performance indicators that have both proactive and reactive control measures. This is an important management consideration for production systems that rely on high inhibitor efficiencies and high dosage availability/injection reliability to ensure safe long-term operation.

Edited by: J.W. Palmer, W. Hedges, J.L. Dawson